The Reverend's Daughter (Book 2 after The Duke's Daughter)

Chapter Two

Half an hour later, Violet surmised the ship was adequately named. His sweet, adorable, innocent bride was definitely what he would consider a saucy, little wench.

After rowing out to his ship, Violet tried to assist Betsy in climbing the Jacob's ladder, to the deck. Her skirts got caught under her boots on almost every rung. Having had enough, Vi finally swung Betsy over his shoulder, scaled the ladder and lifted her over the rail. Then, much to his surprise, when they were both finally standing on solid wood, she proceeded to climb him as a monkey would a banana tree.

He had completely forgotten the state of his ship. They were all men aboard, and not exactly the highest caliber of men made up his motley crew. A thick layer of greasy dirt covered the whole of the ship, rats scurried here and there, and Vi knew that to Betsy, it must seem a sty after having been aboard the Lady. Vi's crew was not fond of cleaning. Most of them managed to keep themselves halfway clean, but their clothes were usually worn for a week at a time, if not longer. Bathing and clothes washing, for the most part, only occurred when they made land.

Violet kept his own cabin and person spotless. However, he let the rest of the men be their own masters, and they, for the most part, were a lazy bunch. He had inherited most of the crew along with the ship and their habits were lacking and long standing.

Betsy had taken one look at the filthy, dismal ship, then she had screamed. Before he knew what was happening, she grabbed onto Violet's arm and scrambled up him, using him as a stepladder to hop up onto a barrel, as a huge rat went scurrying past them.

"Rrrraaaattttt!" She screamed, as she teetered off balance on top of the barrel of rum. She gripped Violet's shirt in one of her hands as she pointed with her other hand in the direction the rat had gone.

"Yes, well......, I am not quite sure how to go about getting rid of them." Violet told her, as he steadied her on the barrel. "They multiply faster than we can kill them." He explained.

Betsy glared at him.

Violet was taken aback for a few seconds, as she had never looked at him in any other way before, except adoringly. He did not know exactly what he was supposed to do.

"Um, yes, well...." Vi was at a loss, maybe he should have thought of what the ship would seem like to her, forewarning her or something....He strolled a safe distance away from her, and away from her wrath, now that she was seated firmly on her perch. He turned back to her, hoping he could think of something to say that might appease her....And froze.

Vi sucked in a breath and stood completely still, in shock, as his previously sweet, timid, little Kitten, pulled a pistol on him.

Quick as can be, she had reached in her pocket and was, at this very moment, sighting her shot.

"Now K-K-Kitten....." He stammered, as she started from his left side, drawing her bead across him as she finally aimed the pistol to the right of his left arm, and took her shot.

Vi jerked his head around to see exactly what it was she was shooting at. He turned, just in time, to see a rat fly off the opposite deck railing and fall into the sea.

Ol' Chauncey hit the deck as soon as the shot was fired. "Violet! ....'Elp me! ....The lil she cat is tryin' ta kill me!" He screeched.

Violet turned back, stunned, to look at his bride. She was sitting cross legged on the barrel, an intense look of concentration on her face. He could see her tongue was peeking out the corner of her mouth, and she was reloading. Violet shook his head a little to clear his brain of the shock.

She then plopped the bag of shot into her lap and looked around for her next victim. It wasn't but a moment after the first shot, she fired another.